Kathleen T. Moore

Kathleen Therese "Kate" Moore, 60, of West Chester, PA, passed away peacefully on October 27, 2025 at Paoli Hospital with her husband of 17 years, Fred, by her side. “She will forever be my Holly Golightly.”

Kate was born on August 17, 1965 in Chicago, IL to Mary Ann Moore (Fabish, 1936-2023) and James J. Moore (1930-2015), and was the youngest of four children. A loving little sister, Kate was preceded in death by her older sisters Colleen Marie Bagge (1958-2024) and Laura Anne Moore (1962-2003). In addition to her husband Frederick H. “Fred” Moryl, Jr. she is survived by her brother Michael; her nieces Karen Kelly-Rogers and Christine Weikel; nephews Brian Weikel and Daniel Ross-Moore; and four children from Fred’s previous marriage (Edward, Nicholas, Chloe and Luke).

Growing-up on the Southwest side of Chicago, Kate attended St. Denis Elementary School and graduated from Queen of Peace High School in 1983. She continued her education at Mundelein College in Chicago and graduated in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts.

While completing her college curriculum, Kate simultaneously developed and pursued her true passions of becoming a fashion model and a competitive equestrian dressage rider. Both of these dreams took her away from Chicago to New York City and Palm Beach, Florida.

As a model in New York, Kate was represented by the Ford Agency, and found work in several print ad campaigns, most notably with Danskin and Stolichnaya. While in Palm Beach she modeled at various charity events and for various lines of clothing such as Lilly Pulitzer, Channel and Michael Kors. However it was her love of horses that prevailed, and she found herself as an instructor at the Chelsea Piers equestrian center where she was able to find sponsorships to ride competitively. And it was this same love that brought her to train with Robert Dover, the premier U.S dressage rider, Olympic champion and gold medalist. It was under his tutelage in the 1990s that Kate began to ride competitively. In 1995 she was a bronze medalist at the United States Dressage Federation, qualified as a Top 12 Finalist at the Gladstone-U.S. Equestrian Team in 1996, and later rose to winning a silver medal in 1997. She competed at the National Champion level through the early 2000’s. Her modeling career took a backseat to her passion for horses and equitation. Later in life, Kate came to thoroughly enjoy instructing amateur adults in the art of dressage, and even found her passion evolving into equine therapy as a volunteer at the Thorncroft Equestrian Center in Malvern, PA, a nationally recognized non-profit organization providing therapeutic and traditional horseback riding for all abilities and a Center of Excellence for Para-Equestrian Dressage.

It was during the summer of 2007 that, through an equestrian friend, Kate met her future husband, Frederick H. Moryl, Jr., at a shore house in Bay Head, NJ. Fred, a 1977 graduate of Yale University and the NYU Stern School of Business, had just relocated from Chicago to accept a position with the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. It was the beginning of a long-distance courtship between Philadelphia, Chicago and Palm Beach. Kate insisted that Fred be “vetted” by her mentor, Robert Dover, soon after which Kate and Fred took the vows of matrimony on April 22, 2008 administered by the Rev. Ken Williamson of the Unity Church of the Palm Beaches. Kate relocated to Philadelphia, and eventually the couple moved to West Chester where Kate taught dressage to young adults, adult amateurs and began her volunteer work at Thorncroft, while resuming her modeling career with the QVC Network.

A complex medical agenda made Kate’s final years challenging. She did her best amid the many health related crises she faced, and never let her illness curtail her love of horses and imparting her knowledge of equitation to others. Her devotion to 17 years of married life with her husband, Fred, anchored her life as did her regular conversations with her family, particularly her mother and sister Colleen. Kate eventually succumbed to her medical condition on October 27, 2025 after several weeks of hospitalization and palliative care.

As a final gesture of Kate’s love of life, she donated her organs through the Gift of Life Donor Program.

In lieu of flowers, Kate requests that any gifts or donations in her memory be made to the Equestrian Aid Foundation, Wellington, FL.

Funeral arrangements were made with the assistance of Donohue Funeral Home and Crematory of West Chester, PA.

A private interment will be held on April 24, 2026 at Our Lady Queen of Peace Cemetery, Wellington, FL., to be followed by a memorial Celebration of Life at Café Sapori, West Palm Beach, FL.